Randi Hirschman: Baked Bliss

An OKC chef’s appetite for knowledge

By Greg HortonPhotos by Shannon Cornman

Although she was born in Oklahoma City, Randi Hirschman’s parents moved to Ingleside, Texas, while she was still an infant. Growing up along the Gulf Coast in south Texas meant Tex-Mex, seafood and chips ‘n’ salsa as a kid. The family moved back to OKC when Hirschman was 16.

While she confesses to missing the frequency of Tex-Mex meals in south Texas, Hirschman, Chef de Partie at Nonesuch, said she’s never been a picky eater. She’s not kidding; frozen taquitos are one of her go-to guilty pleasures.

Hirschman attended Oklahoma State, where she got a Hotel and Restaurant Administration degree. That was her first experience working back of house, and she took to it quickly.

“I love the fact that there will always be something to learn,” she says. “There’s opportunity to get better, and I’m always creating something.”

The creative impulse served her well as a bartender, too. She spent some time behind the bar at O Bar at the Ambassador Hotel in Midtown before moving back to the kitchen at The Hutch on Avondale. She just couldn’t stay away from chef life.

“I miss the interactions with people and the interesting characters you meet as a bartender, but I feel more at home in restaurant kitchens,” she smiles. “Honestly, cooking just comes more naturally to me than bartending.”

Hirschman interned with Chef Kurt Fleischfresser and Chef David Henry, and now she works with Chef Colin Stringer, so her resume is remarkable already. One of the advantages of OSU’s HRAD program is the number of influential people students meet, and Hirschman points to those experiences – Wine Forum, Ranchers Club and chef events – as formative in her culinary career and decision making.

Education and personal development are core pursuits in her life, so much so that she has little free time. Not surprisingly, much of that is spent meeting friends for new food experiences or cocktails. “I love the cooking life because there is this ongoing challenge to learn more,” she says. “I don’t know much about it, and that drives me, and I love the task of combining and altering ingredients to create a dish that brings someone satisfaction.”

For her recipe, Hirschman chose focaccia bread, for two reasons: “It’s hard to mess up, and bread is my favorite thing to make. Kneading it and shaping it are some of the most rewarding things for me. The feel of the dough, flour everywhere, the science of baking, achieving balance of water to flour to yeast … and it’s delicious!”

Preheat oven to 475°F. Press fingertips all over dough, forming indentations. Bake the focaccia until brown and crusty, about 20 minutes. After out of the oven and slightly cooled, sprinkle the shaved ricotta salata over the focaccia.

(Optional) Lightly drizzle olive oil over the top, along with light sprinkle of Maldon salt and fresh cracked black pepper.